Guinness Brownies

I asked you about St. Patrick’s Day desserts last month. I received a few requests for green desserts that aren’t necessarily mint chocolate. That one’s coming on Monday. (Any guesses??) But the outpouring of “anything with Guinness” convinced me to pick up a 6 pack and begin recipe testing. My kitchen smelled like a brewery at 9am on a Tuesday morning, but the result was well worth my boozy wake up call.

Before you run away at the thought of beer brownies, let me explain. These Guinness brownies do NOT taste like beer. Guinness stout, with its roast coffee and caramelized flavors, is often paired with chocolate in baking. They’re a natural duo because Guinness not only intensifies chocolate, but adds a malty background.

A quick internet search for “Guinness brownies” will spew out a million results. Even still, I wanted to try my hand at this popular dessert because even though brownies seem pretty basic, it’s difficult to maintain a desirable texture when you begin adding all sorts of stuff. And I was ready for the challenge.

LET’S TALK FLAVOR + TEXTURE

Dark chocolate comes to mind first. These Guinness brownies aren’t overly sweet, so you’ll find yourself grabbing another. (If it’s not the brownies that are addicting, it’s the frosting. More on that below!) If we’re talking texture, they’re very dense and very moist. In fact, they’re the moistest brownies I’ve ever baked… because they’re the only brownies I’ve ever baked with Guinness! Unlike my chewy fudgy homemade brownies, these Guinness brownies are not particularly chewy. They taste like fudge. A square of dark chocolate fudge.

HOW IT WORKS

To impart enough flavor into the brownies, we’d have to use a lot of beer. But adding liquid to brownies makes absolutely no sense. We’re not making fluffy cake. We’re making dense brownies. So let’s take what we learned from homemade strawberry cake and reduce the beer down on the stovetop first. The heat evaporates the liquid, but leaves the flavor. Little liquid, lots of flavor, won’t turn our brownies into cake. We also do this with champagne in mimosa cupcakes and these wedding cupcakes.

This step is really easy and requires zero effort from you. Pour an entire 12 oz bottle of Guinness into a saucepan. (The whole bottle! Nothing to waste!) Leave it alone to simmer for 20ish minutes, until it’s reduced down to 2/3 cup. This is less than half the liquid we started with, but triple the flavor!

We’ll use 1/2 cup of reduced Guinness in the brownie batter and the remaining 2 and 1/2 Tablespoons in the frosting.

The rest of the brownie ingredients are usual suspects. Butter, sugar, eggs, flour. Instead of cocoa powder, we’re using pure solid chocolate. Sometimes I use a combination of pure chocolate AND cocoa powder in brownies, but I wanted to keep things really simple since we’re taking extra time to reduce beer on the stove.

Besides Guinness, you know what else intensifies chocolate’s flavor? Coffee. I add espresso powder to both the brownie batter and frosting on top. It’s optional, but if you really want a deep dark chocolate brownie, don’t leave the espresso powder out.

Look at this gorgeous batter! Have I mentioned how rich these brownies are?

FROSTING

The brownies are great alone, but better with this frosting. Their decadent nature screams for something creamy! (That being said, eat one with a pint of Guinness in the other hand.)

This caramel colored frosting is an interesting flavor. Interesting in a good way! It’s mostly espresso flavored, though there are lingering notes of maple too. Not sure how it tastes like maple, but I suspect it’s the combination of reduced Guinness, vanilla, and confectioners’ sugar. I’m not a beer expert, maybe there’s maple in Guinness?! Whatever the reason, it’s SO GOOD because it’s SO DIFFERENT.

While I urge you to make these Guinness brownies for your St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, I hope you don’t limit them to March 17th. Both the texture and flavor are irresistibly decadent and unique, they deserve to be a year round treat!

Directions:

In a small saucepan, bring the Guinness to a boil over medium-high heat. Once boiling, reduce to medium heat and allow to simmer until reduced down to 2/3 cup, about 20-22 minutes. Set aside to cool for at least 10 minutes. You will use 1/2 cup in the brownies and the rest in the frosting.

Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C) and grease a 9x9 inch pan or line with aluminum foil or parchment paper, leaving an overhang on the sides to lift the finished brownies out (makes cutting easier!). Set aside.

Place the butter and chopped chocolate in a large microwave-safe bowl. Melt in 30 second increments, whisking after each, until completely smooth. Whisk in the sugar and 1/2 cup of reduced Guinness until completely combined. Whisk in the eggs and vanilla extract. Finally, whisk in the flour, salt, and espresso powder (if using). The batter will be thick and shiny. Pour/spread evenly into prepared pan.

Bake for 32 minutes, then test the brownies with a toothpick. Insert it into the center of the pan. If it comes out with wet batter, the brownies are not done. If there are only a few moist crumbs, the brownies are done. Keep checking every 2 minutes until you have moist crumbs. My brownies take about 35 minutes.

Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool completely before frosting or cutting into squares.

Make the frosting: In a large bowl using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the butter on high speed until completely smooth and creamy, about 2-3 minutes. Add the confectioners' sugar, beating on low at first then increasing to high speed. Once creamy and combined, beat in 2 Tablespoons of reduced Guinness, the espresso powder, vanilla extract, and salt. Taste. Add the remaining reduced Guinness if needed. If you want the frosting a little thinner, add a splash of milk.

Frost cooled brownies.

Cover and store leftover brownies at room temperature for up to 1 week.

Make ahead tip: Freeze frosted or unfrosted brownies up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator then bring to room temperature before serving.

Recipe Notes:

*You can find 4 ounce chocolate baking bars in the baking aisle. I like using Ghirardelli or Baker's brand. You can use 8 ounces (heaping 1 and 1/3 cups) of quality chocolate chips instead, such as Ghirardelli brand.

Wow! I made these today and they are insanely good! I was one of the people who begged for a Guinness brownie recipe a few weeks back. This has definitely replaced my former one (as I thought it would). The texture of these brownies is unreal. What really set it apart for me was the Guinness buttercream. This will go on the St. Patrick’s Day tradition list for sure. Thank you so much for this recipe! Also (for people who read comments for tips) I used an 8×8 pan (it is all I have) and it took around 45 minutes. I started checking at 35. I like ultra thick brownies so this was perfect!

Thanks for the tip on the longer cook time for the 8×8. I pulled mine out just shy of 45 minutes and they were perfect! I thought the thick brownies were a nice change and you only needed a small square since they’re so rich.

OK, these are the BEST brownies I have ever had. My husband liked them so much that he took half the pan of brownies with him to share with a couple teachers at his school. The frosting was fabulous. I will bake these even when it’s not St. Patrick’s Day!

Wow, these look awesome!! My coworker’s birthday is next week and she ADORES brownies so I’ll definitely be making these in a couple of days. I wonder if they would go well with an Irish cream frosting…

Hi Sally: I love your posts and am trying several of your recipes. I just finished the Guinness Brownies for our St Patrick’s Day-After event at our Church tomorrow. I followed your recipe to the letter and they turned out fantastic. Can’t wait to hear the raves tomorrow!

Best brownie recipe I’ve ever made. Weighed all ingredients & followed your recipe to the letter. Also appreciated your link to an explanation of why careful measuring is key to successful baked goods. Again, these are fantastic! Thank you!

I have made these brownies twice and they are delicious. I made them once for a St. Patrick’s day event at work and one for a St. Patrick’s Day dinner.

I had one question though, the frosting after it sits for a bit gets white dots. I’ve made them twice and it happened both times. I thought maybe it was the salt but not sure. Have you run into this before? I use the recipe for the frosting exactly as stated.

These brownies were fabulous! The tip to line the pan (I used foil) made it so easy to lift them out and divide in half – brought half to a friend’s home on St. Patrick’s day and the other half to lunch the next day at our daughter’s. Everyone loved them. Definitely a keeper

You were right about needing to make two batches! I made these last night and they are already gone! My family was a little bit skeptical about them tasting too much like beer, but they LOVED them! These brownies are so moist, fluffy, AND fudgey! Didn’t know it was possible to have all of these textures at once, but it is! And it is fantastic. Definitely going to make them again- they are truly a unique and wonderful treat!

I just made theses brownies and they are really tasty for breakfast! My taster had to give his opinion on the frosting as I ran out of icing sugar after the stores were closed. They tasted fabulous naked. So unctuous and rich!! With this frosting, my colleagues are going to be in for a treat. You have set my reputation with the Irish car bomb cupcakes and this will really give me star power now. Thanks Sally.

Made these brownies for my coworker’s birthday this week and EVERYONE raved about them! The brownie part had me worried a bit because the batter looked thin after I mixed it up… and during baking it developed a weirdly cracked top but my oven sucks so it could be at fault. The icing definitely put it over the top! I had some left over so I made a couple of plain vanilla cupcakes (four, to be exact) and my fiance and I devoured them, lol. A keeper, without a doubt!

Good-morning Sally, I have a confession to make, have made so many of your recipes and have received rave reviews from family and friends; sometimes I think I should tell everyone it is thanks to Sally too LOL. My question – I have made these brownies countless times and they are the best. I prefer a « cakey » brownie, do you think I could add baking powder to the mix?

Hi Lucille! Thank you so much for baking and trusting my recipes. I appreciate it so much. Baking powder would certainly lift the crumb to yield a cakey Guinness brownie. Let me know how they turn out.

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I’m Sally, a cookbook author, photographer, and blogger. My goal is to give you the confidence and knowledge to cook and bake from scratch while providing quality recipes and plenty of pictures. Grab a cookie, take a seat, and have fun exploring! more about Sally